The Information-Based Indicia Program (IBIP) is a distributed trusted system proposed by the United States Postal Service (USPS) to retrofit and augment existing postage meters using new technology known as information-based indicia. The program relies on digital signature techniques to produce for each envelope an indicium whose origin cannot be repudiated. IBIP is expected to support new methods of applying postage in addition to, and eventually instead of, the current approach, which typically relies on a postage meter to mechanically print indicia on mailpieces. IBIP requires printing a large, high density, two-dimensional (2-D) bar code on a mailpiece. The 2-D barcode encodes information and is signed with a digital signature.
The USPS has published draft specifications for IBIP. The INFORMATION BASED INDICIA PROGRAM (IBIP) INDICIUM SPECIFICATION, dated Jun. 13, 1996, ("IBIP Indicium Specification") defines the proposed requirements for a new indicium that will be applied to mail being processed using IBIP. The INFORMATION BASED INDICIA PROGRAM POSTAL SECURITY DEVICE SPECIFICATION, dated Jun. 13, 1996, ("IBIP PSD Specification") defines the proposed requirements for a Postal Security Device (PSD) that will provide security services to support the creation of a new "information based" postage postmark or indicium that will be applied to mail being processed using IBIP. The INFORMATION BASED INDICIA PROGRAM HOST SYSTEM SPECIFICATION, dated Oct. 9, 1996, defines the proposed requirements for a host system element of IBIP ("IBIP Host Specification"). The specifications are collectively referred to herein as the "IBIP Specifications". IBIP includes interfacing user (customer), postal and vendor infrastructures which are the system elements of the program.
The user infrastructure, which resides at the user's site, comprises a postage security device (PSD) coupled to a host system. The PSD is a secure processor-based accounting device that dispenses and accounts for postal value stored therein. The host system (Host) may be a personal computer (PC) or a meter-based host processor. As used herein, IBIP open system meter is also referred to as a PC meter.
It is expected that once IBIP is launched, the volume of meters will increase significantly when the PC-based meters are introduced. Such volume increase is expected in the small office and home office (SOHO) market. The IBIP Specifications address and resolve issues which minimize if not eliminate USPS risks regarding security and fraud.
As part of the Host functional requirements for configuration management, section 3.2 of the IBIP Host Specification requires updating the current CD-ROM hosted USPS ZIP+4 National Directory, which typically has a fixed period in which its validity expires. The IBIP Host Specification also requires that the Host vendor inform the users of action necessary to obtain a current version of the current CD-ROM hosted USPS ZIP+4 National Directory and that users have a reliable method to obtain new directories before their current directory expires. The specification further requires that the Host produce standardized addresses, which must include a standard POSTNET delivery point barcode, for use on the mailpieces. Such standardized addresses are used in the generation of indicia evidencing postage in accordance with the IBIP Specifications. The Host must verify each address at the time of mailpiece creation regardless of whether the address had been previously verified.
Thus, IBIP requires that, any time an indicium is to be printed, the address used in the indicium be cleansed, i.e., validated, through an addressing engine that includes the CD-ROM hosted USPS ZIP+4 National Directory. This requirement prevents the printing of an IBIP indicium using a stale or invalid address.